Hutchison Whampoa has 25 billion reasons to sell assets now

To sell or not to sell does not seem to be the question vexing Li Ka-shing anymore. For Asia's richest man, it is more about what to sell, and when.

Li's decision on Thursday to offload the bulk of his stake in Hong Kong Terminal 8 West by selling 60 per cent of the container terminal in Kwai Chung for HK$2.47 billion to two mainland shipping conglomerates was part of a string of asset sales expected this year, some analysts said.

The curtain was lifted on Li's asset divestment strategy in January when his energy flagship, Power Assets, spun off its regulated electricity business in the city - Hongkong Electric Investments - as a trust in an initial public offering that raked in one-off gains of HK$52 billion.

Last month, Li's trusted lieutenant and Hutchison Whampoa managing director Canning Fok Kin-ning said health and beauty retailer AS Watson, the conglomerate's cash cow, would seek to go public in Hong Kong this year.

The market has been abuzz with rumours since October that Li was pulling back from Hong Kong, triggered by the planned sale of his ParknShop supermarket chain. That plan was subsequently abandoned, having now become part of AS Watson's proposed listing.

"His asset sales so far reflect a lack of confidence in Asia-Pacific's prospects," said Lam Pun-lee, an economist and former associate professor at the School of Accounting and Finance in Hong Kong Polytechnic University.